Back to Ohio

My trip to Ohio went well. My sister and I flew up on Saturday and made it to my cousin's wedding with plenty of time to spare. The wedding went off without a hitch and now he's married and loving life in Jamaica on their honeymoon.

We had 2+ hours between the wedding and the reception (I know, crazy!?!) and I was talking to my husband and he told me to behave at the reception. Who? Me? *batting eyelashes* Of course, I said. And I did. But the end of the evening is a little blurry. My sister agreed that I am sort of a troublemaker. Not really, but maybe a little. I'm just not a huge fan of rules or certain people I'm related to. Haha. I am not afraid to speak my mind when the situation calls for it but normally restrained. I have bit my tongue more often than spoken.

My husband just knew that all it takes is a little bit o' liquid courage for that normal barrier to be broken. I was good and my sister concurred. I just ignored that certain someone I didn't want to talk to and that was a good strategy. I did have to sit next to him at brunch on Sunday. I think he got the hint because he didn't talk much. I did get a "God bless you" when talking about triathlon (not quite sure how that fits but whatever) and then that was it. He's really the only one I didn't want to see but I'm not the only one who doesn't like him. You'd be hard pressed to find someone in the family, besides his wife, that does like him.

The best part of the trip was seeing my grandma. She's great. She has a great sense of humor and has always made me laugh. She can say the craziest stuff with a straight face and sometimes you have to ask if she's serious. She could tell you the sky is pink, totally serious, and then you wonder.... really? Is the sky pink? Wait, no, she's kidding. She doesn't fool me often but when she does it always cracks me up. I hope to be able to take the girls up to visit again next summer. They are very fortunate to have a great-grandma (Gigi) who is still around and active.

I always liked visiting Ohio but was also glad my parents moved away when I was three. I always recognized the difference between the town where my mom grew up (my grandma still lives there) and the polished suburb where I grew up. That area of Ohio always struck me as very blue collar because of the steel mills and General Motor plants. (nothing wrong with that, just different) I did wish, once upon a time, that we did live up there but I was just naive to think it would be better than my hometown. The town has changed because the steel mills are closed and GM has been laying off people for years but it's also essentially the same. I am so glad my parents never chose to go back to Ohio. ;)

And I leave you with this:
(I'm not a fan of the Pretenders so I found this instead)